Freightliner Trucks goes to haul and back in powerful new campaign via Akkomplice
Freightliner, maker of one of the most advanced heavy-duty trucks on the road, the Cascadia, is launching a powerful new campaign this week via independent creative agency partner Akkomplice.
Targeting owners and drivers alike, the campaign has a bold confidence that matches the ruggedness of the truck itself. To show off the Freightliner Cascadia’s serious heavy-duty capabilities, the agency team literally went to haul and back in the Australian outback. Shot around Hughenden, four hours inland of Townsville, the Cascadia was put through its paces by Akkomplice and renowned Australian auto film director Jolyon Watkins and photographer Cam Murray.
Says William Keaney, marketing manager at Freightliner: “We’re up against some big players in the industry, who have a loyal base of rusted-on customers, so we knew we had to make an impact, not just make some ads.”
Says Kenny Hill, founder, Akkomplice: “There’s a long list of rational reasons to buy a Cascadia but to win minds, we first must win hearts – so with this campaign we doubled-down on the compelling emotional takeout of confidence that customers get from Freightliner.”
Says Glenn Dalton, chief creative officer at Akkomplice: “One of the best pieces of creative advice I ever received was to start with the poster. If it works in a billboard, it will work anywhere. We assembled a great crew to pull this off and are thrilled with the result.”
The campaign is live across large format OOH, social and digital channels, print, TV and integrated dealer collateral. A suite of customer testimonial content, also produced by Akkomplice, retargets viewers of the new campaign in print, video and social, with firsthand praise for the Cascadia.
Along with Freightliner, Akkomplice is the lead creative agency for FUSO and Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Australia, all within the Daimler Trucks business.
Client: Freightliner Trucks
Stephen Downes – Director
Will Keaney – Marketing Manager
Agency: Akkomplice
Glenn Dalton – Chief Creative Officer
Kenny Hill – Founder
Jack Clark – Account Director
Nathan Herbertson – Design Director
Ellen Valerio – Editing and Design
Soraya Darwish – TV Producer
Chris Erickson (TopicVisual) – Retouching
Production: Orange Block
Jolyon Watkins – Director
Alan Robertson – Producer
Cam Murray – Stills Photography
Andy Stalph & Drew Moden (Mr Fox) – Offline editor
Felicity Stalph (Mr Fox) – Online Editor
Liam Annert & Bec Ivanov (Rumble Studios) – Sound Design
14 Comments
Epic!
Nice lines GD. Nice shots Jolyon.
Now that’s how you sell me a truck. Powerful copy. Perfect production.
the shot at 17 to 19 seconds is perfection. so good.
Sweet copy GD, nice one
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I really enjoyed that.
Max max, intense and clever. All while clearly highlighting a powerful experience.
And that shot!
There’s only one GD!
Love the “outback punk” vibe in these, super different for a truck brand to have this much attitude. And yes, the shot at 0:17 gets me every time.
Now I want a truck.
3 things
1. Was that 3 ads joined together, I’m not sure what I just watched?
2. Why show a quintessential image of America (scorpion) if you want to build more relevance to Australia)?
3. Why make these feel boring?
Bonus question – why are there 9 comments saying how good this wallpaper is – it’s almost as if the agency feels a sudden need to justify their work?
Well I can answer one of those questions for you – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scorpions_of_Australia
3 things:
1. Pretty sure you just watched a campaign. A campaign is where you have more than one iteration of a single thought/idea. To help you out in the future, when you see a logo at the end of an ad, then the frame dips to black, that means that specific ad has finished. Hope this is helpful.
2. You’re right, the agency should’ve shown a Koala here. What were they thinking? Amatures.
3. Again, great question. I can only imagine the client, agency and production team chose to make this campaign as boring as possible. There’s literally no brilliantly constructed and crafted shots of the truck at all. The edit is something you could’ve done better on iMovie. And the sound design ads nothing to build the tension and toughness of the truck and the landscape it’s travelling through. Maybe they should’ve used an Aussie rock song – perhaps played by the Koala on the side of the road – you know to really turn up the energy. Missed opportunity.
Bonus answer – I guess nine people know what they’re talking about. They understand how much thinking and crafting goes into making a campaign like this. It’s stunning, strong and simple – obviously though, not as simple as yourself.
Yeah that shot at 0:17 is from an ad a few years ago, can’t be arsed to remember where. Other than that, pretty standard campaign, 5/10, reeks of meh.
Some beautiful work. First 30″ is awesome. Well done.